User:Tunadan/forestguls

Forestguls is a strategy appearing in all post-Shadows formats. It is usually restricted to the Ringwraith culture, though a splash from other cultures is occasionally used. It uses site manipulation extensively, and aims to win with strength via Lost in the Woods (11U212) , though it is not a clear-cut beatdown strategy.

The aim of the deck is to make as many sites on the adventure path forests. It usually does so by the Free Peoples side working in tandem with the Shadow, which is a a unique concept to post-Shadows decks. This usually means that you play Smeagol or Gandalf's bag of site tricks, then use Nazgûl that play around with sites, for example, Úlairë Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders (11S222) , and sometimes Gollum with Led Astray (11U45) .

The Forestgul strategy has also iterated itself as a swarm tactic, using Dark Approach (12R162) and Úlairë Toldëa, Black Shadow (12U180) .

Getting Forests

The deck is usually paired with a Free Peoples side that can manipulate the site path, but it is good to have site manipulation on the Shadow side. There a quite a few ways to do this. Úlairë Nelya, Third of the Nine Riders (11S222) is a staple of most Nazgûl decks. Úlairë Toldëa, Eighth of the Nine Riders (11S225) can work as well, but is unreliable and largely eclipsed by Úlairë Toldëa, Black Shadow (12U180) , who can recur Dark Approach (12R162) , All Life Flees (18U132) (a powerful hate card), or Too Great and Terrible (3R85) (a must in Expanded). A Gollum splash for threats and recursion via Evil-smelling Fens (5U22) can include Led Astray (11U45) to keep your sites out.

Core Cards

Once you have forests on the site path, there are multiple ways to use them. There are two cards that capitalize on forests heavily; Lost in the Woods (11U212) and Dark Approach (12R162) . Lost in the Woods is only useful on higher-strength characters, so using Nazgûl like Úlairë Nertëa, Dark Horseman (19P38) or Úlairë Cantëa, Black Assassin (12R174) to get them where you want them is very helpful. Dark Approach is usually recurred by Úlairë Toldëa, Black Shadow (12U180) , but can also be fetched by Ring of Terror (17R143) or The Witch-king, Morgul King (7R221) . Both of these can also recur Lost in the Woods in the event that it is discarded. Most Forestgul decks incorporate Moving This Way (11S213) to keep your deck cycling and to store Nazgûl for later. Black Rider (12U161) is a must for a potential swarm, as he is the only Nazgûl that is not unique. The Witch-king, Captain of the Nine Riders (11R226) is often used for his Toil discount as a free minion with good body.

Threat Incorporation

Often Threatguls components are used in the deck, mainly as a meta call and to make the deck more versatile. Úlairë Cantëa, Faster Than Winds (7R211) is powerful possession hate, and also punishes large fellowships. They Feel The Precious (15U183) is basic wound prevention, and is a powerful silver bullet against the Rise of Saruman duo, Orophin, Silvan Elf (17S11) and Rúmil, Silvan Elf (17S12) , and answers Aragorn’s Bow, Ranger's Longbow (15R56) very well. Ring of Terror (17R143) and The Witch-king, Morgul King (7R221) both are powerful recursion tools, and rely on threats. Úlairë Lemenya, Eternally Threatening (15R185) is powerful rainbow hate, and can fuel these other Nazgûl.

Filling out the Deck

The rest of the deck is minions and meta cards. Too Great and Terrible (3R85) is a powerful answer to Gandalf, be it Gandalf, Wise Guide (19P8) or Gandalf, Powerful Guide (15R29) . Gandalf's site manipulation tricks are a huge threat that